Harvest Bucks Program

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

The Harvest Bucks Program provides clients who rely on federal nutrition assistance programs with an incentive to purchase locally grown, healthy foods from the farmers’ markets. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients can now double their benefits when they choose to buy fruits and vegetables at the farmers’ markets held in Longmont and Boulder. The Harvest Bucks Program not only increases low income residents’ ability to access healthy, local produce, but it also supports our local economy and farmers. This program exemplifies an equitable three-tiered approach to sustainability: socially, by providing underserved residents with the opportunity to take part in the local food culture; environmentally, by increasing the viability of our small acreage fruit and vegetable farmers’; and financially, by increasing the purchasing power of underserved residents so that they can access locally grown produce. In 2013, the Boulder County Farmers’ Markets sold a total of $12,500 worth of local foods to SNAP recipients ($10,000 in Boulder and $2,500 in Longmont). During the pilot of the Harvest Bucks program in Longmont (8/2/14 – 10/31/14), $6,047 was spent; representing more than a 500 percent increase over the same period in 2013. During the pilot in Boulder (8/2/14 – 11/24/14), $14,776.00 was spent; representing more than a 220 percent increase. When surveyed, 88 percent of participants reported increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables, 94 percent agreed that it was easier to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, and more than 80 percent of participants said that they would not have come to the market without the incentives (compared to 70 percent nationally).